A modern gas turbine engine, such as is used for generation of electricity at power plants, is a multi-part assembly of sub-components, many of which are subjected to vibrational and thermal stresses over long periods of operation. To the extent that various sub-components and their respective parts are designed, manufactured, shipped and installed to reduce undesired stresses, this may result in longer operation and less downtime.
In common configurations of gas turbine engines, a plurality of combustors is arranged circumferentially about a longitudinal axis of the engine. Compressed air from a compressor is mixed with fuel in each combustor and flows to a combustion zone where the fuel/air mixture is ignited to form a hot working gas. The combustion zone begins downstream from a base plate within the combustor that demarcates an upstream end of the combustion zone. The combustion zone may terminate before or may extend into what is referred to as a transition duct. The transition duct is a conduit that carries hot gases into a turbine section of the engine where the hot working gases pass through a series of alternating rows of turbine vanes and turbine blades to extract work.
A common approach to assembly of a transition duct with a combustor in a gas turbine engine is to attach an assembly of spring clips at a downstream end of the combustor. For example, a spring clip ring assembly may be provided at a downstream end of a combustor that provides sliding support that accommodates thermal growth of the combustor and transition duct. Spring clip ring assemblies may comprise a plurality of spring fingers that are resiliently biased radially outwardly from the end of the combustor into engagement with an inner surface of an inlet ring located at an upstream end of the transition duct. A known spring clip seal assembly incorporated in a gas turbine engine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,093,837, which patent is incorporated herein in its entirety.